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Sports Editor Kevin Hieronymus reflects on his 40 for 40 moments at the BCR · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Sports editor Kevin Hieronymus reflects on his forty for forty
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  Speaker 1: moments at the BCR. Written by Kevin Hieronimus, this article
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  Speaker 1: is being read by an automated voice brought to you
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  Speaker 1: by Everlett. Ten years ago, I wrote my thirty for
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  Speaker 1: thirty moments on my thirtieth anniversary at the BCR, with
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  Speaker 1: the finish line in sight for my time at the BCR.
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  Speaker 1: Here's an update representing my forty for forty moments. My
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  Speaker 1: number one moment, without a doubt is meeting a local
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  Speaker 1: gala Appa Lamoyl Farm my bride of nearly thirty four years,
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  Speaker 1: Cammi Hildebrand. Many thanks to former coworker Stephanie Peterson Cartwright,
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  Speaker 1: Cammy's cousin, and her grandma, Cammy's aunt Beulah for setting
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  Speaker 1: us up. Coupled with that grand moment was the arrival
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  Speaker 1: of our girls, Brooke and Brynn. I have been richly
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  Speaker 1: blessed by the girls in my life. From there, let's
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  Speaker 1: go chronological Bruins winn State. My first state champion to
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  Speaker 1: cover at the BCR was John Bellino's nineteen eighty eight
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  Speaker 1: Saint Bede Bruins baseball team, which defeated Alton Marquette sixty
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  Speaker 1: three for the state title. I would follow the Bruins
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  Speaker 1: twice more at State nineteen ninety two, twenty fifteen. Tiger Style.
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  Speaker 1: The nineteen eighty nine Princeton football season, when Tiger's Style
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  Speaker 1: ran wild all the way to the state finals, is
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  Speaker 1: surely a personal favorite. They lost to a loaded Belleville
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  Speaker 1: alth Off team in normal after sneaking past rival Hall
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  Speaker 1: in Spring Valley rocking alman Shawn Schickeles famous quote, it
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  Speaker 1: used to be Oh my god, it's Almant, now it's
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  Speaker 1: oh my god, it's Princeton and upsetting Aurora Marmion. I
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  Speaker 1: think I'm still thawing out from that game, the one
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  Speaker 1: that got away. The Hall Lady Devils softball team had
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  Speaker 1: Mighty Casey defeated in the nineteen ninety state tournament with
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  Speaker 1: what should have been a game winning bases loaded walk
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  Speaker 1: in the bottom of the seventh. However, not all of
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  Speaker 1: the Hall base runners advanced to touch the next base.
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  Speaker 1: I remember watching Casey appeal and saying, oh oh oh.
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  Speaker 1: The run was taken away to end the inning, and
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  Speaker 1: Casey went on to win six to two in extra
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  Speaker 1: innings and win another state title. The Lady Devils may
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  Speaker 1: have hoisted the crown instead State champs Rita Plastics Princeton
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  Speaker 1: Tigris's spiked the state to win the nineteen ninety Class
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  Speaker 1: A State volleyball championship. They'll go down as the best
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  Speaker 1: team I ever covered, with Nicole Coates easily the best player.
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  Speaker 1: Oh brother Kip nineteen ninety and Christian nineteen ninety three
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  Speaker 1: ninety four Walgren of Princeton won three state wrestling crowns
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  Speaker 1: between them, I'll never forget the bear hugs their dad
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  Speaker 1: AKP Dub gave them small town heroes. One of my
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  Speaker 1: favorite teams to follow, certainly were the nineteen ninety one
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  Speaker 1: to ninety three Napons Lady Zephyr's basketball teams, who reached
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  Speaker 1: the Class A Sweet sixteen super Sectionals three straight years.
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  Speaker 1: Love their theme song. John Cougar Mellencamp's small town coach,
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  Speaker 1: Chuck Blake joked that Neptet's population was five hundred, not
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  Speaker 1: including the chickens and pig how sweet it was. Princeton
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  Speaker 1: went thirty seven years between sectional basketball championships until Roger
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  Speaker 1: Lowe's nineteen ninety one to ninety two Tigers squad beat
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  Speaker 1: rival Mendota fifty four to fifty three on Jeff Olsen's
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  Speaker 1: game winning free throw, creating pure Prouty pandemonium. That was
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  Speaker 1: a memorable season personally having coached the members that team
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  Speaker 1: coming up through the freshman ranks as a member of
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  Speaker 1: the PHS staff. Tribute to Sports. The best thing we
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  Speaker 1: have ever done to promote area sports was our Tribute
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  Speaker 1: to Sports Bureau County Sports Hall of Fame program. Originating
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  Speaker 1: in June of nineteen ninety five. It was a great
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  Speaker 1: way to honor and connect athletes from the past and
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  Speaker 1: the present. While the program was inexplicably discontinued, it helped
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  Speaker 1: spawn the idea of the Illinois Valley Hall of Fame
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  Speaker 1: Plano Madness as Princeton reached the sectional finals for the
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  Speaker 1: third time in four years, only to fall seventy three
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  Speaker 1: to seventy to Yorkville in triple overtime on a last
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  Speaker 1: second desperation throw. In at Plano, the Foxes had tied
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  Speaker 1: the game with a three pointer with three seconds left
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  Speaker 1: and also made a buzzer beater at halftime. State trifecta,
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  Speaker 1: the Hall Lady Devil's volleyball team made three straight trips
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  Speaker 1: to the state volleyball tournament nineteen ninety five to ninety
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  Speaker 1: seven under two different coaches, Phil Powers and Lori Polt.
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  Speaker 1: Hall would return in two thousand and five under Demi
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  Speaker 1: Salazar to place fourth. Kings of Rock and Roll. The
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  Speaker 1: Hall football teams, spirited by the assistant coach Steve Smith,
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  Speaker 1: led King of Rock and Roll homage to the Leyton Great.
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  Speaker 1: Hall coach Richard Nesty, won the three Estate championship in
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  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety five with a wild comeback in the last
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  Speaker 1: minute to top Duke one thirty eight thirty two. The
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  Speaker 1: next season, in nineteen ninety six, in another nailbier, the
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  Speaker 1: Red Devils landed second at state, falling to Carterville twenty
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  Speaker 1: three to twenty. Hustlin Hall Red Devils Eric Bryan's Hall
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  Speaker 1: Red Devils hustled their way to back to back state
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  Speaker 1: runner up finishes in nineteen ninety seven and nineteen ninety eight.
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  Speaker 1: All stater Sean Jepson scored a record fifty one points
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  Speaker 1: in the nineteen ninety seven finals against w Warsaw, but
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  Speaker 1: Hall still lost ninety two to eighty five in ot.
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  Speaker 1: The next year, the Red Devils rode a thirty two
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  Speaker 1: zero record into the title game against Navu Colassa, a
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  Speaker 1: freak pregame hand injury to Jepson in player introductions proved
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  Speaker 1: too much for Hall to overcome, falling forty five thirty
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  Speaker 1: nine DJ spins records. Another great Hall moment saw DJ
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  Speaker 1: Glynn win four state titles in the nineteen ninety nine
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  Speaker 1: is A Track and Field Finals one hundred, two hundred,
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  Speaker 1: four hundred high jump undoubtedly the greatest Bureau County track
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  Speaker 1: moment of all time, not just my time. Twice as nice,
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  Speaker 1: Bureau County saw two runners, Jason Bill of BV and
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  Speaker 1: Becca Faber of Princeton, finish as state runners up in
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  Speaker 1: the two thousand and one ISS State Cross country Meet.
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  Speaker 1: Couldn't have happened to two nicer kids. The Storm also
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  Speaker 1: placed as a second team, with Richard Kraft and Dustin
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  Speaker 1: Marquis also earning all state honors. Happy Days naming Saint
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  Speaker 1: Beads Ja happ as our BCR Athlete of the Year
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  Speaker 1: in two thousand zero one certainly proved to be a
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  Speaker 1: good choice. The Bruins basketball baseball Ace embarked on a
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  Speaker 1: successful fifteen year career pitching in the Big leagues with
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  Speaker 1: eight teams capped with a twenty win season in twenty sixteen.
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  Speaker 1: Especially fun to see him wrap up his career with
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  Speaker 1: the Cardinals in twenty twenty one encore performance. The Hall
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  Speaker 1: Red Devils returned to the state football finals in two
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  Speaker 1: thousand and one, shutting out Leroy twenty one zero to
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  Speaker 1: lan Gary Vessini's second state title as Hall coach. Hall
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  Speaker 1: fans will never forget sophomore reserve William Chiado's performance in
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  Speaker 1: place of injured starter Bran Baltakowski. I'll never forget running
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  Speaker 1: over a raccoon on I seventy four on the trip home,
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  Speaker 1: and my sidekick Charlie Ellerbrock jump and say what was
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  Speaker 1: that and continue banging out his story on his laptop.
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  Speaker 1: Three Mendus Brad Bickett's Bureau Valley Storm won an unprecedented
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  Speaker 1: three straight third place finishes in the ISA won a
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  Speaker 1: boys basketball state tournament from two thousand zero two. They
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  Speaker 1: were another very likeable group to follow and made me
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  Speaker 1: feel like one of the team. I can still hear
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  Speaker 1: Bickett's famous foot stomps ringing in my ear. Two Tiger Football.
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  Speaker 1: Joe Ryan's tenure as PHS football coach peaked with a
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  Speaker 1: semi finalist appearance in two thousand and two. Only a
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  Speaker 1: meeting at Addison driscoll, a contest first believed to be
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  Speaker 1: at Princeton, kept the Tigers from following the footsteps from
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  Speaker 1: their nineteen eighty nine Brethren Game of the Centuries. Princeton
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  Speaker 1: basketball fans will never forget the high scoring affair between
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  Speaker 1: the Rochelle Hubs one hundred and thirteen and Tigers one
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  Speaker 1: hundred on December fifteenth, two thousand and one at Prouty Gym.
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  Speaker 1: Rochelle all stater Ben Rand scored forty eight points and
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  Speaker 1: Tigers Matt Wright forty one and John Foss thirty one
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  Speaker 1: combined for seventy two super heartache. I can still see
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  Speaker 1: the heartbreaking last second shot by Lyles Pierre Parker, younger
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  Speaker 1: brother of NBA star Tony Parker, to sink John Rumley's
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  Speaker 1: Princeton Tigers fifty two to fifty one in the two
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  Speaker 1: thousand and three DeKalb super Sectional, described in the BCR
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  Speaker 1: as seconds from Peoria Phs senior Brian Stetson had hit
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  Speaker 1: a layup with fifteen seconds left to give the Tigers
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  Speaker 1: a fifty one to fifty lead. He told me after
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  Speaker 1: you go from a complete high to rock bottom in
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  Speaker 1: fifteen seconds. Mineral Spirits. The Bureau County Sports Hall induction
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  Speaker 1: of the Mineral Leopards basketball teams brought a sea of
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  Speaker 1: green to the two thousand and four Tribute to Sports program.
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  Speaker 1: It was a fitting lasting memory to the great sports
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  Speaker 1: program we had. Two thousand and five, Princeton Baseball. The
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  Speaker 1: Tigers won their first and only Sectional championship in baseball,
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  Speaker 1: defeating Chillikeith IVC seven to four and future Big leaguer
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  Speaker 1: Zach McCallister in a slugfest at Mendota. The Tigers Jordan
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  Speaker 1: Holmes hit two home runs, making for one off my
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  Speaker 1: most memorable headlines of Holmes sweet homes. While McAllister didn't
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  Speaker 1: pitch in the game, he did homer taking them by storm.
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  Speaker 1: The Bureau Valley Storm football team finished as Class three
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  Speaker 1: as state runners up in two thousand and four, falling
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  Speaker 1: to Addison Driscoll thirty seven to fourteen with a third
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  Speaker 1: thirteen to one record. Despite a great turnover the next season,
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  Speaker 1: including a new coach and Dave Moore, bev finished as
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  Speaker 1: the perfect Storm at fourteen zero with a thirty four
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  Speaker 1: to seven win over Tolono Unity to capture the two
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  Speaker 1: thousand and five state title. Just for kicks, Eddie Young's
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  Speaker 1: Princeton girls soccer team made back to back state appearances
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  Speaker 1: in two thousand and six zero seven. The Tigrises haven't
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  Speaker 1: been back since manual overdrive Poia. Manuel has a rich
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  Speaker 1: basketball program, with four straight state championships from nine ninety
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  Speaker 1: four to ninety eight. Manuel, however, had to take a
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  Speaker 1: back seat in two thousand and nine to Princeton, which
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  Speaker 1: surprised the Rams seventy one to sixty five to claim
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  Speaker 1: the Chillicoth Sectional championship. The upset win may be the
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  Speaker 1: biggest win in school history. Rock Stars the Saint Bede
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  Speaker 1: Bruins returned to the state baseball tournament in twenty fifteen
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  Speaker 1: for the first time in twenty three years. They also
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  Speaker 1: made national headlines when their hidden ball pickoff play went viral,
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  Speaker 1: including ESPN's Plays of the Day. Coach Bill Booker said
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  Speaker 1: they came as a baseball team and left as rock Stars.
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  Speaker 1: All In. Jesse Snyder went through some hard knocks when
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  Speaker 1: he took over as Princeton football coach in twenty twelve,
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  Speaker 1: but it all became worth the weight when his twenty fifteen,
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  Speaker 1: Tigers ran the table to a history making eleven zero
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  Speaker 1: start before falling to Elmhurst Ic Catholic It's thirty seven
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  Speaker 1: to twelve in the state quarterfinals. EIC would become a
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  Speaker 1: thorn in the Tigers' upcoming playoff appearances. Barnes is Noble
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  Speaker 1: Saint Bede senior wrestler John Barnes made an undefeated run
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  Speaker 1: to the state heavyweight championship in twenty sixteen. Like the
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  Speaker 1: Walgren Boys years before him, he got to share the
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  Speaker 1: moment with his dad, SBA assistant Ron Barnes, World Serious.
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  Speaker 1: One nice perk of the job is getting media credentials
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  Speaker 1: to attend several World Series games. I've covered my Cardinals
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  Speaker 1: four times, winning twice. Twenty six twenty eleven, interviewed J. A.
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  Speaker 1: Happ and fellow Illinois Valley native Chad Durban with the
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  Speaker 1: Phillies when they won an two thousand and eight and
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  Speaker 1: took in the Cub's first two home games in the
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  Speaker 1: twenty sixteen Fall Classic. The Cubbies lost both games. I
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  Speaker 1: was in attendance and was on the brink of elimination,
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  Speaker 1: and one has to wonder what would have happened had
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  Speaker 1: I returned for Game five. Of course, we all know
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  Speaker 1: the Cubbies ended their one zero eight year old drought
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  Speaker 1: red Devil's Rain. The twenty eighteen haull Red Devils put
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  Speaker 1: together the most successful baseball season in school history, capturing
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  Speaker 1: the class to a state crown by defeating two Topolis
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  Speaker 1: for one. I got to take in all their lth
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  Speaker 1: celebrations sitting in the dugout taking photos. Many thanks to
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  Speaker 1: coach Tom Keagan for opening his dugout door. Thunder snow,
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  Speaker 1: tornadoes and press box fires. A mailman's motto of rain
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  Speaker 1: or snow has nothing on the old sports editor. I'll
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  Speaker 1: never forget the eventual ride home from Depew's sectional basketball
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  Speaker 1: game in SOMANOK in twenty seventeen, driving through tornado activity
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  Speaker 1: with nowhere to go, and finding my family down in
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  Speaker 1: the basement when I got home. Also had an eventual
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  Speaker 1: night my driving through thunder snow for girls regional finals
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  Speaker 1: in Mendota. That came the famous presumed press box on
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  Speaker 1: fire moment at Nesty Stadium during the Hall Princeton game.
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  Speaker 1: I made like James Matino, racing out of the press
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  Speaker 1: box with sparks flying and smoke billowing. Turns out. It
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  Speaker 1: was a harmless, loose wire sparking in the wet rain,
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  Speaker 1: but we didn't know that upstairs. Fear the Stripes. Outside
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  Speaker 1: of the eleven zero start in twenty fifteen, Princeton football
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  Speaker 1: had a largely stagnate era, with no playoff success since
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  Speaker 1: two thousand and two. Coach Ryan Pearson arrived in twenty
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  Speaker 1: seventeen and two years later led the Tigers to the
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  Speaker 1: three of semi finals in twenty nineteen, the first of
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  Speaker 1: five straight quarterfinals appearances. Throw in a six zero shortened
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  Speaker 1: spring COVID season which cost the Tigers a legitimate shot
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  Speaker 1: at the state title. PHS went fifty eight nine low,
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  Speaker 1: eight hundred and sixty six. The program has bought in
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  Speaker 1: to Pearson's fear the Strip's mojo, which stands for face
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  Speaker 1: everything and rise struck out by COVID. There was nothing
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  Speaker 1: quite like the COVID shutdown in twenty twenty, nor do
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  Speaker 1: I wish we ever see the likes of it again.
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  Speaker 1: Sports were shut down. I got a temporary layoff, and
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  Speaker 1: when the players returned for shortened seasons in the spring,
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  Speaker 1: they had to play wearing masks highlight reels. The twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty two to twenty three Princeton Tiger basketball team was
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  Speaker 1: like watching a highlight reel every night. With high flying
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  Speaker 1: dunks by Teagan Davis, Grady Thompson, Noah Laporte, and Colton Monroe.
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  Speaker 1: The Tigers won their first twenty three games and drew
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  Speaker 1: the number one ranking in the state for the first
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  Speaker 1: time in school history for much of the season before
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  Speaker 1: falling to Rockridge sixty four to forty six in the
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  Speaker 1: sectional finals. Mudida Mojo, the Lady Bruins softball team, brought
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  Speaker 1: much excitement to Saint Bete in twenty twenty three when
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  Speaker 1: it up ended defending champion Illini Bluff seven to six
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  Speaker 1: in Peoria to capture the one estate title. The key
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  Speaker 1: to their success was their Mudida Mojo in that they
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  Speaker 1: celebrated a teammate success more than their own Big ten players.
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  Speaker 1: How many counties in Illinois, especially those of Bureau County size,
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  Speaker 1: can say they produced two Big ten football players in
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  Speaker 1: the same class. That's what Bureau County did in twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty three with Halls mac Resettich, Illinois and Princeton's Teagan
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  Speaker 1: Davis Iowa. One can make a good case that the
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  Speaker 1: BCR co athletes of the year are the best all
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  Speaker 1: around athletes in school history. Tragedy on the Lake. Dustin's
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  Speaker 1: Swanson tragically became the third boat racer to die while
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  Speaker 1: racing at Lake Depew in twenty twenty five. The first
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  Speaker 1: accident took the life of Jerry Drake of Gainesville, Gaya
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  Speaker 1: during testing in July nineteen ninety four. Tragedy struck again
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  Speaker 1: on July twenty eighth, two thousand and six, when Nick Davis,
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  Speaker 1: a thirty seven year old father of four from chillicoth
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  Speaker 1: was killed in the very first race of the day.
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  Speaker 1: School scoring records fall. The Princeton School basketball scoring records
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  Speaker 1: fell like Domino's in a three year stretch, beginning with
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  Speaker 1: Grady Thompson breaking the sixty eight year mark of the
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  Speaker 1: legendary Joe Rucklicky three hundred and six twenty twenty three.
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  Speaker 1: Thompson Oney four hundred and sixty eight held the record
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  Speaker 1: for just for two years, when he was surpassed by
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  Speaker 1: former teammate Noah Laporte one thousand, six hundred and sixteen
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  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five. This past season, Kiley Davis one thousand,
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  Speaker 1: six hundred and eighty nine not only broke Tia Romagnoli's
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  Speaker 1: twenty seven year old girls record of one thousand, five
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  Speaker 1: hundred and six, but also surpassed Laporte. Signing off, of course,
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  Speaker 1: I have to wrap this up with my upcoming retirement.
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  Speaker 1: It's been a fun ride, Bureau County. I thank you
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  Speaker 1: for your continued support these past forty years. I'm sure
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  Speaker 1: you still see me involved with sports in some way
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  Speaker 1: or the other. Kevin Hieronimus has proudly been your BCR
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  Speaker 1: sports editor since nineteen eighty six. He will be retiring
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  Speaker 1: at the end of July.